11/1/15

The first finish on the first of the month. It's kind of like when I start hand-sewing my bindings just inches from the first corner so that I can feel as if I'm making progress. Work out the timing on your calendar, and you can feel as if you're screaming along in the sewing room. So, let's just see what it is, shall we?

Well, this is embarrassing.

I hardly know what to say!

I've seen some cats in my time, but this fellow...well, he's exquisitely handsome...and there's something so familiar about him. Hmmmm.

I wonder if he tastes anything like Gracie...

Just as I suspected. Green. He'll need some time to ripen before I eat him.

I'll just wait right here. Maybe I'll just nibble this corner a bit while he ages.

So excited was I to put the finishing touches on Smitty's pawtrait that I didn't even get dressed before heading into the sewing room. You'll be happy to know that I did take time to brush my teeth. TMI? Then I was so completely absorbed in my sewing that I didn't take any pictures of the process of finishing him off. So sorry.

To summarize, I top-stitched all the applique pieces. For that, I used an invisible monofilament for the lightest parts, and a smoky monofilament for the darkest parts. Also, I used a 60/8 needle to avoid putting big holes into the layers of applique. It was necessary to look again at Gracie's quilt to remember how I'd done this. I couldn't remember if I'd used a stabilizer or sewn through the batting when I did the machine embroidery. For Smitty's quilt, I simply put the stitch regulator on the machine, dropped the feed dogs, and then did a zigzagging free motion embroidery to fill in the fuzzies on the fur.

When that was finished, the regular foot went back on to stitch the whiskers and the eyebrows. For that, I needed some kind of stabilizer, and so I simply added the batting and stitched through it. Then, I added a French knot to each eye for the eye spot. When all of that was finished, I added the backing fabric and then gave it a cursory quilting. At 8 x 11 inches, there isn't much room for doing anything fancy. And then I sewed on the binding. And....done!

These were very fun projects. Now I'm fresh out of pets. I might be persuaded to start on the kids' cats...five in all. That should keep me busy for a while.

my goodness Barbara.....I am impressed and by the way, if you want to give doggies a go....I have two very beautiful 'models'! Shame your linky photo got lost in the blogosphere but thanks for linking up to Design Board Monday at Bits'nBobs.